


Fear the Unknown

by CyberSearcher



Series: Moving Forward [5]
Category: Tron (Movies), Tron - All Media Types
Genre: Beach Episode, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Gen, Tron vs Animals, continuingtotryandfeedthisFandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 18:47:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17688905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberSearcher/pseuds/CyberSearcher
Summary: Tron discovers clams and is subsequently terrified. Alan is a mean dad.





	Fear the Unknown

**::::**

Tron had begun poking at some of the irregularities in the surface of the sand, only to realize that said protrusions weren’t part of the surface. They were more akin to being buried. He brushed away the grains until he could see what it was. 

The mass was smooth, rounded and had a pattern of small circles of various shades of browns and whites. When the program set it inthe palm of his hand, it only took about a quarter of the space. 

He leaned forward - Tron noticed it was comprised of two parts attached like a hinge - to observe from different angles. It didn’t look dangerous. But he held it pinched between his fingers an arm's length away just incase

“Alan? What is this?” 

“Yes Tron?” He turned to see what his Program was questioning. “Oh wow, you found a clam.” 

“Clam?” That didn’t answer much. 

His User shuffled forward, sitting by his side. “It’s a type of animal.” Alan paused. “You don’t have animals on the Grid though, do you?” 

He shook his head. “No, there are no other sentient being that exist to my knowledge. With the exception of Bits, if you count them.” 

Now it was Alan’s turn to be confused. “What’s a Bit?” 

“To simplify, it’s akin to a guide. It registers all external data available to advise programs. But its responses are always limited to either ‘yes’ or ‘no’.” 

“Interesting.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “How are they born?” 

“They’re not technically ‘born’ so by definition, they aren’t. But even so, I have little to know data on the production of Bits.” Tron said. “Anyways, you said this ‘clam’ was a type of animal?” 

“Yea. They’re known for having these things called pearls embedded within them and they can be pretty valuable.” 

Tron looked back to the clam in his palm. He looked at the minuscule seam that had formed between the two halves and tentatively began to pry them apart. 

Then a sudden, shiny pink _thing_ pushed itself out of the clam and curled around his finger. It was squishy and slimy and just screamed _wrong._ All of Trons security protocols lit up with a fury.

He screamed, throwing the clam with enough force for it to become a speck in the sky. Alan - shocked by his programs outburst - yelled and fell back into the towel and into Lora. A few other beach goers turned to the noise, one getting hit by a ball in the background.

The program looked at his hand fearfully, clutching it at his wrist as he turned it over. As if it were to derezz in front of his eyes. Tron rubbed his hand down his shirt to try and erase the feeling of that thing on his hand. 

“What just happened?!” Lora asked, shoving Alan of her while the other fixed his glasses. 

Tron shook his head. “The clam had another entity within it.”

“What?” She cocked her head. Then a grin split her face once she realized it. “You got scared by the clam?”

The Program’s expression morphed into a borderline pout, crossed arms and all. “You never told me that a clam could contain another subroutine.”

“You mean the tongue?” Alan said, grin widening as Tron cringed as he tried to comprehend the statement. “Yea, clams have two parts. The shell and the tongue, which is the part they use to move around with.”

Tron just sat back down with what remained of his ice cream soup, whipping his hand down on the front of his shirt again. “User language is incredibly inefficient. Why do you use the same words to indicate different queries?”

To that, his User just shrugged. “Beats me.”

The security program remained sullen for a few minutes afterwards. Silently contemplating why such powerful beings were simultaneously so dumb.


End file.
